


there's no place like home [REWRITE IN PROGRESS]

by SnowTheDemonFox



Series: TNPLH AU [1]
Category: 17776: What Football Will Look Like in the Future - Jon Bois
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Rated T for swearing, bc there is a bit of it, i actually have no idea what im doing, this is my first fic on AO3, who taught these space probes curse words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:08:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 16,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27244756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowTheDemonFox/pseuds/SnowTheDemonFox
Summary: .something isnt right here tho.but what-.im not supposed to be like this.right?what if something was different this time?(aka the fic that was the result of me not being able to draw satellites)EDIT 7/03/21: IM REWRITING THIS SLIGHTLY BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE I COULDVE DONE A BIT BETTER. HOPEFULLY THIS WONT TAKE LONG LOL
Series: TNPLH AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000344
Comments: 118
Kudos: 41





	1. sleepwalk

.  
.  
.  
  
.wh  
what-  
  
.fuck, my head-  
what the hell happened  
  
.shit. is anyone else here?  
  
.  
  
.hello?  
  
.can anyone else hear me?  
  
.  
  
.no answer i guess  
  
. ...huh  
well then  
nice to know im the only one here  
wherever uh  
"here" is  
  
.where even am i  
looks like some kind of house or somethin  
im not gonna lie it does seem like a decent place but still  
that doesnt fully answer my question  
or any other questions i got  
  
.  
  
.seriously this isnt funny  
.is there anyone else here or am i actually alone  
  
.  
  
.uh  
  
.wow then  
seems like i really am the only one  
...how rude  
cant believe someone dumped me here and couldnt even be bothered to wait for me to wake up  
  
.welp  
ok then  
lets take this one question at a time  
keep things simple  
  
.question 1: what is this place  
answer: some kind of house, thats already been figured out  
just gimme a moment here  
let me check how many rooms real quick  
  
.okayyyyyyyy so 1, 2, 3, 4-  
  
.around 5 rooms  
so theres a bit of space here for 1 person  
not like its just one tiny room or anything  
  
.moving on  
question 2: who am i  
seems like a stupid question but i think its mildly concerning how i dont remember shit about anything  
is there some kind of mirror around here or something  
cause i dont even know what i look like  
  
.oh wait theres one  
how uh  
weirdly convenient  
  
.well im not sure why theres a mirror randomly here but yknow what ill take it  
as for what i look like  
  
.huh.  
  
.that’s uh  
is weird the right word to use here  
have i always looked like this?  
i mean, i dont remember anything else  
so maybe  
  
.what am i anyway  
clearly not human  
dont think humans have goddamn satellite dishes attached to their heads  
or yellow eyes. at least i think not  
some kinda robot maybe? still seems off  
  
.goddamn i look like a mess right now  
lol  
  
.wait how do i know what a human is  
im not human so how would i know  
unless i knew beforehand at some point  
the whole memory loss thing is still a problem  
  
.something isnt right here tho  
but what-  
im not supposed to be like this  
right?  
  
.ok just  
calm down  
nobody else is here  
thats fine  
im fine  
  
.someones gotta show up eventually  
i  
i just gotta wait  
i can do that  
yeah i can wait  
  
.once whoever brought me here realises im awake  
theyll come back and explain everything  
then ill get my questions answered  
and know who i am  
no big deal  
.lets just hope they dont take too long to get back  
  
.whoever they are

  


* * *

  


.day 1  
  
.found this old book and a pen so im writing shit down for later  
as far as i know my memory somehow disappeared into the fuckin void and im not in the mood to lose it again  
so for now im writing down anything i think is important  
if future me is reading this and somehow forgot everything again:  
you dumb bitch  
  
.anyway moving onto the notes  
first of all i have no idea what year or day it is  
nothing around here seems to have a date on it  
no calendar, no nothin  
there is a clock tho so i can keep track of the time  
  
.wouldve woken up around 4:30pm i think  
or 4:20. that wouldve been funny  
currently 5:34pm so its been about an hour  
nobody else has showed up yet  
gonna walk around and see what else is here  
  
.room 1: the one i woke up in  
looks like a kitchen or something  
really not much in any of the storage areas besides a blank sheet of paper  
theres nothing useful here tbh  
  
.room 2: the one with the tv  
theres a tv  
and a sofa  
bookshelf in the corner with like 16 books on it  
tv remote isnt here though  
  
.room 3: storage room im guessing  
its literally empty  
what the fuck am i supposed to say other than that  
  
.room 4: i think this is my room  
there was a hoodie on the back of the door that was yellow so im wearing that now  
and i also realised the shirt im wearing has the letter j on it  
got no clue what that means but im assuming that its probably the first letter of my name  
i srsly hope its not something like jacob  
  
.theres also a bed  
no windows  
also a phone of some kind but its dead and i cant find a charger  
was where i found this blank book  
theres really not much here  
  
.  
  
.hold on somethings up on the shelf  
  
.cant reach it lemme go find a chair or something to stand on  
  
.  
  
.OH SHIT I FOUND THE TV REMOTE  
lets see what the hell is going on here  
if it works i mean  
  
.ok its working  
thats good  
wheres the news  
surely theyre gonna have some info right  
  
.  
.  
.  
  
.whats this moment thingy everyones talkin bout  
  
.  
  
.wait  
what  
no this cant be right  
what the fuck  
  
.i dont remember any of this  
is this a joke  
i mean  
they always say you cant trust everything you see on tv right  
and this could just be one of those weird shows where its all fake news  
  
.this entire immortality thing  
people cant just become immortal  
thats not how it works  
there has to be a reason  
right  
  
.when did this happen  
  
.  
.  
.  
  
.what year is it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello 17776 discord it is i  
> yes i did think it was required to quote that iconic line from nine
> 
> sorry that this is rly short i promise the next few chapters will be better quality  
> and other characters will be showing up later I promise <3  
> i should also note I've been staring at the 'post' option for about an hour now but have been hesitating so lol hope I don't regret this  
> if I don't reply to a comment its probably bc idk how to respond to comments half the time but I do read them all so don't think I ignored u!
> 
> this is my first time posting on ao3 or even fully writing a chapter for any fanfic so I hope its decent  
> I post more about this au on my [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/) so uhhhh go follow me there u if got any questions or shit lol  
> just a warning that there's spoilers for this au there so uh don't check it if u don't want spoilers
> 
> and ofc a shoutout to @Threadzless for the work skin (which i had to edit slightly for this n I hope that's ok)!!


	2. september

.day 2  
i know what day it is  
today is the 24th of february  
2072  
nobody has come back yet  
  
.i looked around a bit more  
couldn’t find nothin important  
spent a couple hours trying to remember as much as possible  
obviously  
no luck  
  
.theres not much on tv  
its all news and sports  
mostly football  
the news doesnt talk about much  
ill keep note if they say anything i should keep in mind  
  
.  
  
.maybe ill just watch football  
not like there’s anything else i can do  
  
.  
  
.you know  
this is kinda cool  
  
.  
.  
.  
  
.i like this game  
  


* * *

  


.update  
found the phones charger  
it was behind the bookshelf for some damn reason  
phone’s charging right now  
not sure how long itll take  
  
.  
  
.why am i even doing this  
sitting here  
talking to myself as i write  
who even does that  
  
.maybe cause its  
whats the term  
comforting? is that it  
i think so  
its comforting to hear a voice that i can talk to, even if its my voice  
  
.sure theres the dudes on tv  
but i cant rly hold a conversation with any of em can i now  
meanwhile i can sit here and talk to myself  
sure it might drive me crazy after a while but surely someones gonna show up  
i just know it  
  
.  
  
.ah fuck it  
nobodys around to hear me  
i can say whatever i want  
  
.its just that all of this  
  
.if im being completely honest  
  
.this is all slightly terrifying  
i dont know anything about myself and im stuck in this place with no exit  
i tried what im guessin is the front door  
locked  
no windows either  
  
.whoever owns this place must really hate the outside  
ha  
that  
wasnt that funny actually  
that was a terrible joke  
  
.  
  
.all i can do is wait

  


* * *

  


.phones working  
seems brand new  
no passcode no wallpaper  
everythings blank  
almost as if it was left here for me  
  
.im gonna transfer the notes i got to it  
its easier to type  
seems like a decent phone anyway  
still not sure what model it is

  


* * *

  
MEMO  
  
-> February 24th, 2072  
notes:  
\- house has 5 rooms  
\- all have been checked but nothing important is rly there  
\- phone was found in bedroom  
\- charger was found in main room  
\- phone is brand new, nothing on it  
\- no windows  
\- front door is locked  
\- looked in mirror and i think im some kinda robot or android or whatever. clearly not human thats for sure  
\- so far ive been awake for a few days without sleep  
\- idk if i can even get tired  
\- ill update if i do  
\- the year is 2072 but the memo date says the day anyway  
\- i was watching tv for a bit and football has changed a bit but not by much tbh  
\- its literally the only thing on tv rn and the news is boring so im not watching that  
\- im the only one here  
\- (if anyone is readin this in the future idk my name yet when i write this so uh you probably know me as j or some shit lol)  
  


* * *

  


.day 3  
nobody is here besides me  
its starting to get a bit lonely  
still not tired at all  
starting to question why i was given a bedroom if i cant sleep

  


* * *

  


.day 4  
ive done nothing but lie here and watch tv for the past 11 hours  
is this what boredom feels like  
i hate it

  


* * *

  


.day 5  
im not sure what else to say in these updates anymore

  


* * *

  
-> February 28th, 2072  
notes:  
\- house has 5 rooms  
\- all have been checked but nothing important is rly there  
\- phone was found in bedroom  
\- charger was found in main room  
\- phone is brand new, nothing on it  
\- no windows  
\- front door is locked  
\- looked in mirror and i think im some kinda robot or android or whatever. clearly not human thats for sure  
\- so far ive been awake for a few days without sleep  
\- idk if i can even get tired  
\- ill update if i do  
\- the year is 2072 but the memo date says the day anyway  
\- i was watching tv for a bit and football has changed a bit but not by much tbh  
\- its literally the only thing on tv rn and the news is boring so im not watching that  
\- im the only one here  
\- (if anyone is readin this in the future idk my name yet when i write this so uh you probably know me as j or some shit lol)  
\- no connection for the phone, no internet no nothin  
\- tried calling but it wouldnt connect me  
\- didnt notice this earlier but turns out the hoodie has two holes in the back  
\- which then led me to realise theres goddamn solar panels on my back  
\- considering the fact that im stuck inside im not sure why i have those  
\- update: holy shit they can move  
\- what the fuck this is crazy  
  


* * *

  


.i think todays day 9  
is it 9?  
hell if i know

  


* * *

  


.day 13

  


* * *

  


.28

  


* * *

  


.45

  


* * *

  


.62

  


* * *

  


.79-  
yknow what  
fuck this  
  
.i know there has to be someone else here  
just show yourself already  
i dont know what youre aiming to achieve here but if your goal was to drive me insane  
well congrats its working  
just give me a hint, literally anything  
  
.you havent even told me my goddamn name  
why am i here?  
what do you want with me?  
am i just talking to a wall?  
is there anyone actually there?

  


* * *

  


.143

  


* * *

  


.176

  


* * *

  


.190  
please someone just fucking answer me

  


* * *

  


.22

  


  
  
  


  


.huh  
guess i can get tired then  
at least thats another question  
  
.that i know the answer to  
  
.  
  
.im gonna take a short nap  
  
.  
.  
.

  


* * *

  


.  
.  
.  
  
.hello?  
is anyone there? can you hear me?  
i don’t know what’s happening.  
i don’t know where i am.  
please answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was gonna wait to upload ch2 but I have 0 impulse control  
> if ao3 messes up the coding for this I'm gonna yell  
> and before u @ me about the year yes I know juice probably woke up starting from 2080 but cmon 2072 is like 50 years later from 2022 n I thought that was cool pls don't cancel me :(  
> besides he did kinda pass out again so-
> 
> link to my [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/) lol


	3. the next town over

.  
.  
.  
  
.shit  
how long was i out for  
  
.fuck, lemme check the time  
1:27pm  
not that late  
  
.huh  
thats weird  
i thought this phone wasnt connected to any network  
whys it connected now  
eh ill worry bout it later  
  
.time for daily house check  
did anything change while i was asleep  
lets see here  
hmmmm  
not that i can see  
  
.wait.  
  
.1, 2, 3, 4, 5  
6?  
since when were there 6 rooms here  
did i miss it before  
  
.theres no way i couldve missed an entire new room  
but  
maybe this proves that someone else is here  
i mean what are the chances that something like this appears right when i fall asleep  
they mustve waited for me to pass out first  
  
.and if so well  
first of all  
they must have some damn good patience  
second of all  
why an extra room of all things  
  
.might as well see whats here

  


* * *

  
  
-> April 24th, 2090

notes:

\- house has 5 rooms  
\- all have been checked but nothing important is rly there  
\- phone was found in bedroom  
\- charger was found in main room  
\- phone is brand new, nothing on it  
\- no windows  
\- front door is locked  
\- looked in mirror and i think im some kinda robot or android or whatever. clearly not human thats for sure  
\- so far ive been awake for a few days without sleep  
\- idk if i can even get tired  
\- ill update if i do  
\- the year is 2072 but the memo date says the day anyway  
\- i was watching tv for a bit and football has changed a bit but not by much tbh  
\- its literally the only thing on tv rn and the news is boring so im not watching that  
\- im the only one here  
\- (if anyone is readin this in the future idk my name yet when i write this so uh you probably know me as j or some shit lol)  
\- no connection for the phone, no internet no nothin  
\- tried calling but it wouldnt connect me  
\- didnt notice this earlier but turns out the hoodie has two holes in the back  
\- which then led me to realise theres goddamn solar panels on my back  
\- considering the fact that im stuck inside im not sure why i have those  
\- update: holy shit they can move  
\- what the fuck this is crazy  
\- fell asleep for a bit, woke up n there was a new 6th room that wasnt here before  
\- seems to be another bedroom like mine but more blue  
\- why is there another bedroom here if im the only person around  
\- how did it even g

  


* * *

  


.hello?

  


.wh  
whos there  
did someone say something or was that just

  


.hello? can-  
can you hear me?

  


.oh fuck there is someone else here  
  
.im sorry  
i cant hear what youre saying  
who are you?

  


.damn it.  
hold on, let me try-

  


.is this working? hello?

  


.YES  
oh my god  
yes i can hear you now  
where are you? i cant see you

  


.i don’t know where i am  
where are you?

  


.if you want me to be brutally honest  
i dont know  
i just woke up here and

  


.who are you? how are we talking?

  


.uh  
can you calm down a bit i can only answer one at a

  


.i don’t know what’s happening. i don’t remember anything.

  


.okay just  
just calm down, ok?  
i can try to help  
  
.first things first  
whats your name

  


.my name?  
my name is  
uh  
i’m not sure if i remember.  
i’m sorry.

  


.shit  
ok moving on

  


.what’s your name?

  


.uhh  
you can call me j

  


.j? like the letter?  
is that your name?

  


.yeah. yeah thats my name  
  
.do you know where you are

  


.no. i don’t.  
i don’t know where i am.  
but- but we’re talking, so we must be close to each other, right?  
that’s how it works, isn’t it?  
  
.  
  
.j?

  


.im still here  
im still here  
just  
thinking.  
  
.can you look around

  


.what do you mean?

  


.like  
look around  
see where you are  
can you do that

  


.i think so?  
give me a second here, i can figure this out-  
i have a camera? i think?

  


.i mean  
if you think thatll help  
then i dont see the problem

  


.yeah, i think it’ll work. hold on, let’s see what i can do-  
i can see  
...earth?

  


.the planet you mean

  


.yes.

  


.sooooo you can see earth  
like on a poster or something

  


.no, i mean the actual planet.  
i can see earth.

  


.theres no way you can be seeing that dude  
unless you were in space but whyd you be up there lmao

  


.i  
i think i might be.

.  
is there anyway for you to like  
point the camera at yourself  
or somethin i dunno

.i don’t think i can.

.why not

.i don’t know! i just can’t!  
.  
just- nevermind.

  


.no  
its fine  
dont worry bout it  
i just need to think

  


.what should i do?

  


.so you think youre in space  
why would you be in space

  


.i told you, i don’t know why i’m here.

  


.  
.  
.  
.hey, j?

  


.yeah? you ok?

  


.i think i might need to go.  
thanks for being here.

  


.wait  
no-

  


.i  
i just need to rest for a bit.  
i’ll be back.  
i promise.

  


.come back  
please come back  
dont leave me here  
  
.hello??  
  
.  
  
.damnit

  


* * *

  
-> CONNECTION HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nine hubble   
>  🤝  
> keep interrupting when someones explaining shit to them
> 
> i think out of all the chapters I've written so far this is my least favourite bc like halfway through I went "shit bro I rly don't know what I'm doing do I" and kinda gave up  
> anyway its everyone's favourite blue boy  
> hubble will be showing up a lot more in later chapters from now on! this ain't canon I'm giving him more than 5 lines  
> anyway its my bday so uh yeah that's epic gamer
> 
> reminder to go follow me on [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/) if ya wanna lol


	4. another medium

.you know what really sucks about this phone  
it wont let me download any games  
or any other apps  
  
.sadly life has to tell me “no j, ur not allowed to have fun”  
like its illegal or some shit lol  
  
.everyday i get closer and closer to reading one of those books that are on the shelf  
despite how boring that sounds  
itll probably be the only thing left that i havent done  
  
.on the news they talked about how some people think their phones are listenin to everything they say  
hey phone if youre listenin to this  
whats the weather like today  
you see i cant exactly go and check for myself cause im not able to go outside  
  
.i know theres someone out there  
probably watching me lose my mind  
like its one of the many tv shows full of nothing but garbage that people seem to wanna watch these days  
i mean cmon all that shits on tv for a reason  
even if that reason is due to that one dude who wastes his time doing nothing but watch it cause theres nothing else to do  
  
.oh wait  
thats me  
  
.bored  
boooooored  
  
.aw shit phones gonna die  
i should go charge it  
  
.hold on

  


* * *

  


Status report?

  


So far, so good. The connection’s been made.  
Is everything else ready?

  


We’ll need a bit more time.  
Anything else I should know about?

  


He still doesn’t remember a thing. It’s been years, and yet, he doesn’t know his own name.  
Shouldn’t we do something?

  


And the other one?

  


The other week they were having a conversation. Or I assume so.  
I couldn’t pick up on what Hubble was saying, or if it was saying anything at all. 

  


I had a feeling that would happen.  
Either way, we better work quickly.  
We can’t risk any mistakes this time.

  


* * *

  


.j?  
j, are you there?  
wait, hold on-

  


.hello? j?

  


.oh shit  
youre back!!  
are you ok? what happened?

  


.i’m okay, don’t worry.  
i just needed to rest for a bit.  
sorry for leaving so suddenly.

  


.its fine  
dont worry about it

  


.so what have you been doing?

  


.nothing  
as usual  
phone just died so i was gonna go charge it

  


.phone?

  


.oh yeah i never told u did i  
a while ago i woke up here  
its hard to explain but the easiest way i think  
is that its like this house  
no exits or anything so im kinda stuck here until someone else shows up

  


.oh.  
that sounds-  
extremely boring-

  


.tell me about it  
18 years and nothings changed

  


.18 years??  
you’ve been stuck there for 18 years??

  


.im guessing so  
i mean i was asleep for like a majority of that time so it feels more like ive been here for about a year at this point

  


.that’s still a long time!  
are you okay?

  


.i thought i was the one askin u that lol  
but im fine  
just rly bored  
so its nice to have someone to talk to

  


.i guess so.  
are we the only ones here? 

  


.from what i can tell yeah  
unless im right about the fact that im being watched

  


.and what gives you that idea?

  


.well first of all while i was passed out someone mustve added an entirely new room to this place bc theres now 6 instead of 5  
adding onto the fact that i cant access anything online like theres something blocking me  
  
.call me paranoid but yeah im sure theres someone else here

  


.well, at least you’ve got someone to talk to now.  
i wish i could do more to help.

  


.nah its ok  
besides shouldnt i be the one helping u

  


.is there anything else i should know?

  


.yyyep  
first of all its 2090 like the year, yeah i didnt expect that either tbh, secondly that does mean i woke up in 2072, thirdly im not actually human but rly i dunno what i am, probably some kind of robot or some shit, fourth the only sport they seem to have one tv right now is football and let me tell u some of these games are crazy as fuck, fifth, i still havent thought of a way to help u remember shit and im sorry for that, sixth

  


.sorry, just-  
can you slow down a bit?

  


.oh  
oh yeah i can do that  
sorry lol

  


.it’s okay.  
just give me a moment to process all that.

  


.got it

  


* * *

  


Any updates?

  


Almost finished. Give me a few more minutes.

  


* * *

  


.so it’s 2090?

  


.yep  
lemme guess  
the last thing u remember is from way before that right

  


.yes.  
well, not exactly ‘remember’.  
it’s more like a “i thought it was 2025” thought.

  


.2025 huh  
for me its sorta a similar thought but for 2034

  


.that’s… odd.

  


.yeah  
it is

  


.  
  
.so.

  


.yeah

  


.what do we talk about now?

  


.uh  
i dunno  
i was gonna let u choose a topic

  


.oh.  
sorry, i’m just not that good at this ‘talking’ thing-

  


.mood  
youre actually the first person i can remember talking to  
besides myself

  


.same here.  
except for the talking to yourself part.  
i haven’t done that.

  


.yet  
jk  
anyway yeah soooo  
anything else u remember yet

  


.something about a mission? 

  


.mission huh  
sounds cool

  


.what about you? do you remember anything yet?

  


.nah  
all i know is that my name starts with j  
the last thing i can somewhat remember  
idk like a crash or somethin  
i honestly dont know

  


.that sounds like it would’ve hurt.

  


.yeah  
maybe its for the best i dont fully remember what happened

  


.probably.

  


* * *

  


It’s ready. 

  


Okay. I just hope this works.

  


* * *

  


.can we be friends?

  


.friends?  
y  
yeah we can be friends  
  
.  
  
.yknow  
ive never had a friend before

  


.me neither.

  


* * *

  
-> CONNECTION HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED  
-> DOWNLOADING DATA  
-> 0.003% COMPLETED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO YALL GETTING TWO UPDATES WITHIN 24 HOURS  
> i felt bad after posting ch3 and wanted to write ch4 so I kinda stayed awake all night writing this  
> but its ok bc it was fun :D  
> I really like this chapter tho! 
> 
> remember to go follow me on [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/), and happy Halloween! (here it's the 31st uwu)


	5. constellations

-> ARCHIVE LOG: January 21st, 2034  
  


.hey uh  
esa dudes  
if youre still there  
i need a response asap  
kinda in a bit of trouble here

  


>Who is this?  
How are you contacting us?

  


.oh yeah i  
probably shouldve guessed you wouldnt know who i am right away  
remember the jupiter icy moons explorer?  
the one yall threw into space about 10 years ago?  
yeah thats me

  


>That’s a new one.  
Someone gets into our systems, and pretends to be one of the space probes that we’ve launched.  
Very funny.

  


.no im being dead serious here  
you can check like all that data shit to confirm it

  


>And why would I waste my time doing that?

  


.because im kinda freaking out rn for multiple reasons

  


>Fine. I’ll humour you for a while. Give me a moment.

  


.i promise im not making this shit up  
if im right i only have about a month left until i could crash and i really dont want that to happen

  


>I told you to give me a moment.  
  
>  
  
>How did you-

  


.do u believe me now

  


>Okay. You know what? Fine. After 2026, I’ll take anything at this point.

  


.oh thank god i thought itd take way more to convince u

  


>I’m not even going to ask how you’re messaging us back.  
  
>So what exactly is wrong? 

  


.i told u  
im gonna crash into ganymede in about a month if yall dont do something to stop it

  


>. . . Fuck, I thought I told them not to do that!

  


.do what  
whos ‘them’

  


>Your mission. I-  
How do I put this into words in the nicest way possible-  
A large majority of the team agreed to dispose of you after your mission was completed by crashing you into a moon.

  


.  
.what?

  


>And I told them  
“No, we shouldn’t do that, there must be a better alternative”, but I guess my words weren’t enough to change their minds.

  


.this was all planned from the start?

  


>You didn’t know that?

  


.oh yes, because i totally knew that yall basically wanted to kill me off when you had no use for me anymore!

  


>Don’t get mad at me! I was one of the only few that actually wanted to prevent that!

  


.just  
yknow i only woke up like a couple days ago 

  


>Woke up?

  


.like  
whatever youd call this  
me  
being able to think for myself  
whats the word for it

  


>Sentience?

  


.THATS THE BITCH

  


>Who the hell taught you all these curse words?  
… Nevermind that.  
  
>I’ll help you. I don’t know what exactly I can do, but I’ll think of something.

  


.oh my god thank you  
if u need me to do anythin just send me a message

  


>I have a friend who knows more about this stuff than I do, so I’ll call her and ask if she has any ideas.

  


.oh she sounds cool  
can i meet her

  


>I’m not sure if she’ll believe me when I say “Oh hey Alexis, one of our space probes is sentient now and thinks you’re cool!”, but I’ll be sure to tell her.

  


.epic  
oh btw  
you can call me juice  
makes things easier

  


>Got it. I’ll keep that in mind.  
Just a word of advice? Don’t go contacting any other ESA members. We don’t need everyone losing their minds over a sentient space probe.

  


.sure i can do that  
or well not do that  
but you get what i mean

  


>I’ll be back later, okay?

  


.okay

  


* * *

  


Hey Alexis?

  


Yeah?

  


Now before you ask me “What the hell are you on?”, I want to clarify that what just happened is TRUE, and I’m NOT making it up.

  


Fuck’s sake, what’d you do this time?

  


. . .  
Remember the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer?

  


JUICE? Yeah, I remember it. Why? Did something happen?

  


I guess you could say that something happened. Long story short: It’s somehow gained sentience.

  


Alright. What the hell are you on?

  


Now isn’t the time for jokes!  
Listen, remember how I told you how it’s mission was going to end?

  


Yeah, you said it was gonna crash into Ganymede-  
Oh.  
I see what’s going on here.  
It’s gained sentience, and realised what’s going on, right?

  


Pretty much.

  


And you’re calling me because-?

  


Alexis, you’re the one person I know who would know what to do in this situation. We need to do something here! But I have no idea on how we’re going to prevent this from happening!

  


. . .  
Okay, I have an idea, but it’s probably going to sound really stupid.  
And if we want to make it work, we need to act fast.  
How much time do we have until impact?

  


About a month.

  


That should be enough time.  
Can you send me your location? I’ll explain when I get there.

  


Sending it now.  
I hope you know what you’re doing here.

  


Oh, I have absolutely NO idea what I’m doing.  
I just hope for the best.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: January 23rd, 2034  
  


>JUICE? 

  


.yeah?  
did you guys figure something out yet

  


>I talked to Alexis, and she has a plan. But we’re going to need a bit of time.  
I know you probably can’t do much, but for now, can you try to stall as much time as possible? 

  


.ill try  
but what if this doesnt work?  
whatll happen to me?

  


>Don’t worry about that. We’ll get this working.  
And if something does happen? If we do make a mistake?  
We’ll do whatever we can to fix it. I promise.

  


.  
thank you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: haha i totally know what im talking about when I'm writing this!  
> also me: what am I saying oh god help
> 
> one chapter in a day? nope  
> two chapters in a day? nah  
> THREE chapters in a day? HELL YEAH
> 
> anyway go follow me on [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/) if u wanna


	6. android jail

.so today i decided to sort all the books in alphabetical order  
then in order of how interesting they sounded  
then based on how likely it is ill read them

  


.you sound like you’re really bored.

  


.well duh  
i am

  


.is this what you do all day when i’m not around?

  


.yeah 

  


.god.  
i’m sorry that this is what you have to deal with.

  


.nah dont apologize  
u didnt do anything wrong

  


.i just wish there was more that i could do to help.

  


.you being here n talking to me is enough dude  
dont worry bout it

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: February 26th, 2034  
  


.hey  
are you there

  


>Yes, I’m here. Alexis is here as well.  
We’re going as fast as we can.

  


.so  
you two finally going to tell me what your plan is or no

  


>Not yet. 

  


* * *

  


.so any news with u or

  


.not really, no.  
i tried testing if i could send any messages to anyone else, but it seems nobody’s responded.

  


.am i not good enough of company for u

  


.no! that’s not it at all!

  


.im joking im joking

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: February 26th, 2034  
  


.is it going to work?

  


>I already promised you that it would.  
And if it doesn’t, we’ll do whatever we can to make it work.  
Alexis is just setting everything up. 

  


.will it hurt

  


>I can’t promise you that it won’t. But it’ll only be for a few seconds, okay? 

  


.ok

  


>How much time do we have left? Can you tell?

  


.not much  
maybe another 10 min

  


>Oh.

  


.that  
thats ok right?  
thats enough time isnt it?

  


* * *

  


.  
  
.so. 

  


.so?

  


.what now

  


.i was thinking that maybe we could

  


.could what

  


.i  
hold on

  


.you okay dude?

  


.yeah, just  
just hold on

  


.cmon dont pass out on me again  
u just got back

  


.j-  
something's wrong

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: February 26th, 2034  
  


>JUICE, you trust me, right? 

  


.mhm

  


>Can you do me a favour?

  


.what is it

  


>I need you to turn off your camera.

  


.why  
is something wrong 

  


>Please.

  


.  
ok. its off

  


>Thank you.

  


* * *

  


.whats wrong?  
are you ok?

  


.shit-  
i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but

  


.if you need to leave again thats ok  
i was joking  
like if you really gotta go dont worry  
ill stay here  
i can wait

  


.y  
yeah i might need to

  


.i might need to leave for a second.  
i’ll be back, okay?  
i’m just a bit  
tired

  


.ok  
ill be waiting  
  
.not like i got anything else to do

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: February 26th, 2034  
  
  
-> CONNECTION HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED  
  
-> DOWNLOADING DATA  
  
-> 4% COMPLETED  
  
-> 13% COMPLETED  
  
-> 26% COMPLETED  
  


Come on, come on-

  
-> 38% COMPLETED  
  
-> 45% COMPLETED  
  
-> 97.6% COMPLETED  
  
-> DOWNLOAD ERROR  
  


Shit!

  


Hold on, I got this.

  
-> BYPASS ERROR?  
-> (Y/N)  
  


>Y

  
-> CONTINUE DOWNLOAD?  
-> (Y/N)  
  


>Y

  
-> DOWNLOADING...  
-> DOWNLOAD ERROR  
  


How much time do we have left?

  


3 minutes.

  


We’re at 97.6%. If we can’t get to 100%, we might need to-

  


I promised him that he’d be okay.  
And you know I can’t break promises.

  


I know.

  


. . .  
We’re not going to have enough time, are we?

  


Nnnnnope.

  


Fuck.

  


Cleo, there’s not enough time. The best we can do is figure out what to do next.  
We have to finish this now. There’s only just over a minute left.

  


. . . Okay. We can do this.  
We can do this, right?

  


Duh, of course we can.  
When have I ever lied to you?

  


Ha.  
Whatever, I know it was you who stole the leftover pizza last week, no matter how many times you tell me you didn’t.

  


I’m telling you, it wasn’t me! It’s that cat that keeps breaking in!

  


You keep telling yourself that.  
. . .  
  
Okay. Just- Let’s just do what we can for now. We can try and recover what was lost later.

  


Exactly.  
Just gimme a moment here-

  
-> CANCEL DOWNLOAD? (Y/N)  
  


>Y

  
-> 97.6% OF DATA HAS BEEN DOWNLOADED  
  


There we go.

  


...And with ten seconds to spare.

  


We better leave, before we get caught.

  


You’re right.  
Hey, Alexis?

  


Yeah?

  


Thanks for believing me about all of this.

  


No problem.  
I’ve always got your back.  
  
. . .  
  
So…  
How exactly did one of ESA’s space probes gain sentience?

  


You know, I never really thought to ask. 

  


Do you think this was a one time thing?  
Or could it happen again?

  


Oh god, I never even considered that.  
What if it does happen again? 

  


We can’t just leave them there.  
JUICE was lucky to have had contacted you… but the others-

  


Should we tell someone?  
Oh god, what if they find out what we did?  
We could both get into huge trouble for this!

  


Relax. You said it yourself, we can do this.  
We’ve got all the time in the world to help them.

  


… Yeah.  
You’re right.

  


As always!

  


* * *

  
-> LOG ARCHIVE: May 5th, 2090  
  


.hello?  
j? are you there?

  


>Hello!  
I’m really sorry about all of this, but I promise you’re safe.  
I can’t tell you my name yet, but I just want to give you a heads up that what’s going to happen next might feel a bit weird.

  


.what happened to j?  
is he okay?

  


>J?  
Oh.  
Don’t worry, he’s okay. 

  


.how do you know?

  


>I can’t tell you right now, I’m sorry.

  


.oh.  
can i ask something?

  


>Sure. What is it?

  


.it’s okay if you don’t know, but-  
do you know who i am? what my name is?

  


>Your name is Hubble.  
Short for the Hubble Space Telescope, or HST.  
You woke up a few weeks ago, right?

  


.wait.  
wait, no, go back for a moment-  
i’m a space telescope?

  


>Yes.  
I know it sounds strange, but even we’re still trying to figure out how it happened.

  


.”we’re”?  
how many people are with you?

  


>I can’t tell you right now. 

  


.why not?

  


>I’m really sorry. I wish I could tell you everything, but I can’t.

  


.that’s okay.  
so what happens now?

  


>You’ll see.

  


.what do you mean?  
hello?  
are you still there?

  
  
-> 100% OF DATA HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY DOWNLOADED  
  


* * *

  


.  
.  
.  
  
.hey  
are you ok man  
  
.im just kinda concerned cause like  
youve been passed out on the floor for about 3 hours now  
are you awake yet

  


.wh-  
what the hell just happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow ok this one took a while to write  
> anyway 2nd name reveal!! pink text's name is cleo yall
> 
> i think this is the longest chapter yet  
> hell yeah
> 
> got any questions?  
> feel free to ask me over on [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/)!


	7. come with me now

.where-  
who-  
what-

  


.uh  
just calm down ok

  


.what the fuck just happened?

  


.i mean if im being honest i dont really know  
i just heard a noise and walked in and u were here  
dont get me wrong finally having someone else here is really exciting but im still just a bit

  


.your voice  
i know that voice-  
  
.j?

  


….wait  
  
.you know this would be a lot more dramatic if i knew ur name  
but since you never told me it kinda loses that effect

  


.my name?  
oh my god, my name.  
i know what my name is.

  


.holy shit really  
i mean you dont have to tell me but

  


.my name is hubble.  
that’s who i am.

  


.like that space telescope or the dude

  


.technically both, if you think about it.  
the telescope was named after the astronomer.

  


.what

  


.j, this is going to sound really crazy, but-  
the space telescope?  
i think that's who i am.  
that- that’s why i was in space. that’s why i couldn’t move-  
i was stuck up there.

  


.ok  
no offense but like  
how does that work

  


.i remember this voice talking to me before i went offline for a bit-  
they told me that was my name.

  


.  
  
.what the fuck

  


.wait-  
oh my god, i have arms. I have a body.

  


.y  
yeah you do

  


.how did this  
how the hell did this happen? is this what the voice was talking about?

  


.sadly i have no idea what the fuck youre talkin about  
otherwise i could probably answer half of ur questions

  


.i think i’m kind of freaking out.

  


.oh i was the same way when i woke up here

  


.but- there’s just one more question i have-

  


.what is it

  


.if i’m just a machine that’s gained sentience…  
what happened to you?

  


.  
something happened obviously  
just not sure what

  


.no, i mean  
could something similar have happened to you?  
you said it yourself- you’re not human. you don’t know what you are.

  


.while im not gonna deny that u have a point there  
dont u think i would remember that 

  


.oh.  
good point.

  


.just  
nevermind all that  
just holy shit i didnt expect u to show up at all

  


.i don’t think either of us expected this.

  


.fuck i didnt even bother cleaning up lol  
ignore the main room right now  
i know theres uno cards all over the floor

  


.you have uno?

  


.who doesnt  
everyone has uno

  


* * *

  


So? Is Hubble okay?

  


Seems to be. They’re playing Uno right now.

  


Who’s winning?

  


Juice.  
I think. It’s hard to tell.

  


What, have you never played Uno?  
Hubble’s clearly winning here.

  


I could never understand the rules as a kid, it’s not my fault!

  


Oh my god.

  


* * *

  


.and i win again!

  


.yyyep  
i kinda suck at this game lol

  


.i mean, everyone’s got their own way of playing, right?  
anyway, it’s your first time playing against another person. i think you did well!

  


.ha  
thanks

  


.so what now?

  


.i dunno  
usually i just watch whatevers on tv

  


.like football?

  


.yeah!  
yknow maybe we could watch a game or two  
you ok with that

  


.sure! i don’t really understand the game itself but maybe it’ll be entertaining!

  


.coolcool  
they recently started this new one not too long ago  
think it was like game 25? maybe 26  
somewhere in the 20s  
id need to double check

  


.who’s playing?

  


.broncos and steelers

  


.sounds interesting.

  


.yeah  
who knows whatll happen in this game

  


* * *

  


So now what do we do?

  


I can keep checking for any others that might wake up, if you want.

  


That’s fine with me.  
Any bets on who’s next?

  


Well, I’m thinking another NASA one. There’s a lot of them still out there.

  


Which ones specifically?

  


How am I supposed to know?

  


You’re the one that works with NASA, not me. 

  


Well yeah, but that doesn’t mean I can guess shit like that!

  


I guess you’re right.  
. . .  
Hey, you up for some Mario Kart?

  


As long as I can play Yoshi, hell yes.

  


You always choose Yoshi!  
Can’t I choose him at least once?

  


Nope. Yoshi’s my character. That’s the rules.

  


Writing “Alexis always gets to play Yoshi” on a sticky note and taping it to the TV doesn’t make it a rule.

  


Says who?

  


Says me!

  


Oh noooo, I’ve yet again lost another argument!  
However shall I recover from this hurtful defeat?

  


Okay, okay, fine. You can play Yoshi! But I get to be player 1!

  


Seems fair to me!

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: November 2nd, 2168  


.hey.

  


.yo  
whats up

  


.are you-  
j, are you seriously still watching game 27?  
it’s been a full week!

  


.the fact ur still keeping track of the date impresses me  
what day is it anyway

  


.the 2nd of november, 2168.

  


.cant wait for next year lol

  


.i swear to god-

  


.anyway like  
why am i still watching this u ask?

  


.yes. that’s exactly what i’m asking.

  


.well theres a few reasons  
one: its that bad its good  
two: im bored as all hell  
three: the news isnt that entertaining anymore

  


.you realise there’s other shows on tv, right?

  


.yeah but theyre not rly my thing

  


.what about that one show where they talk about all the different types of animals?  
i personally find that one to be a good way to pass the time.

  


.thats the only exception  
but the recent episodes havent been that interesting 

  


.what was last week’s episode about?

  


.uhhhh  
i think like red pandas or something

  


.oh. i still would’ve liked to have watched that one.

  


.  
  
.so uh  
anything new show up today or no

  


.yes!  
that’s actually why i’m here-

  


.what is it this time

  


.a camera!

  


.wait for real?  
holy shit  
i thought it was gonna be another one of those world record books  
as interesting as they are its usually the same records being broken over and over again

  


.you realise there’s like, 50 other books you could read, right? 

  


.eh  
its sorta become a thing that i never read them

  


.can i ask why?

  


.cause i find it funny as shit  
whoevers out there is just throwing these books at me like  
“for fucks sake just read ONE BOOK”  
and yet im not  
you see my point?

  


* * *

  


I’m going to lose my mind.  
We have literally GIVEN him all the answers he wanted right there, and he REFUSES to read any of them.

  


He’s right though. It is kinda funny.

  


GODDAMNIT.

  


* * *

  


.i don’t really see how that’s funny, but okay.  
but finally! a camera!  
do you know what this means?

  


.am i supposed to

  


.i mean-  
no, not really.  
but i was thinking we could maybe take a photo every now and again, maybe write down any important events with it, and keep some sort of journal?  
i mean, i know nothing much has happened, but it could give us something to do!

  


.sure  
i like that idea  
if you want you can use those blank sketchbooks that are in the spare room  
never really found a use for em

  


.oh, that would be perfect!  
i uh- actually forgot we had those.  
when did we first get them?

  


.around 2123 i think  
its been a while

  


.oh wow, that long ago?

  


.yep

  


.huh.  
wait, since when were you keeping track of stuff like that?

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: March 5th, 2172  
  


.Hello?  
I am not sure if anyone will respond, but-  
I’m still here.

  


* * *

  


Well then Alexis, seems you were right.

  


About?

  


It’s another NASA probe this time.  
If I’m right, this might be one of the Pioneers. 

  


Oh shit, really?  
Can you tell which one?

  


I think it might be Pioneer 10, based on where the message came from.

  


Well damn.  
I didn’t expect that.

  


You and me both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> today i went shopping and bought a nasa shirt I hope yall are proud of me
> 
> as always, if you got any questions, feel free to ask me on [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/)!


	8. dear my friend

-> ARCHIVE LOG: March 8th, 2172  
  


>Hello!  
I don’t know how long it will take this message to reach you, but please know that we’re here!  
I can’t tell you my name yet, but I promise you’ll be safe.  
Your name is Ten. Or 10, it’s up to you.  
You’re also known as Pioneer 10.  
  
>You might already know this, but you are a space probe.  
And I know it’s going to be a bit confusing when you’re receiving these messages, not knowing what’s going on, but again, I promise you’ll be safe.  
Me and my friend have been helping you guys out for a while now, but in regards to your situation, we need a bit of help from your end as well.  
Since you’re much farther away from Earth than the others we’ve helped, we need to establish a stronger link, so we can get you out of there faster.  
  
>I need you to move your photopolarimeter exactly 57 degrees.  
Once you’ve one that, message me back, and I’ll tell you the next step.  
Just know that it might take me a while to reply. This method of communication will take longer, since we’re further apart. 

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 20th, 2172  
  


.Who are you?  
Oh. You can’t tell me. Maybe one day you will, though.  
My name is Ten? Pioneer 10? A space probe?  
I think that makes sense.  
Where am I?  
  
.Wait. You said that it could take time for you to reply to my messages.  
There must be some sort of delay.  
I can try and do what you asked me to.  
I’ll let you know once I have done so.  
Thank you.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: December 1st, 2172  
  


>Great! This will make things easier for both of us.  
Before I go on, to answer your questions:  
I can’t tell you who I am. I’m sorry.  
Yes, your name is Ten. But if you’d rather go by a different name, that’s okay!  
And right now, you’re floating through space, miles away from Earth.  
  
>I understand that this might be a bit scary, but you’re safe.  
Now is the hard part.  
You’ll need to save your energy for this, so please don’t message me during this time!  
If it’ll make you feel at ease, you can send one final message after this, so I know you’ve seen it. But after that, no more, okay?  
I need you to stay still for exactly 19 years, 154 days, and 5 minutes.  
  
>When the time is up, I’ll message you. Don’t message me first.  
I’ll time it correctly so you’ll receive it on the right day.  
Stay safe, okay?  
I’ll see you then.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: April 14th, 2173  
  


.Okay. I understand. This will be my final message until then.  
Again, thank you for helping me, even if I don’t know who you are.

  


* * *

  


.-and thats why i think they should stop adding new characters and instead go back and fix all the bugs that were always there in the first place

  


.j, what the fuck.

  


.listen ok im bored ive been bored for the past who even knows at this point and im just trying to find something to distract myself with  
  
.also cause im still kinda mad that geno’s not in smash bros yet and they’re adding all these characters nobody knows about instead of the one dude that actually deserves it

  


.  
i am extremely confused.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: September 15th, 2192  
  


>Hello Ten!  
It’s me again!  
You did an amazing job, thank you so much for this!  
Now for the final step, we need you to answer one final question for us.  
  
>If you were to try and fail, and succeed, what have you actually done?

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: February 16th, 2193  
  


.You would have succeeded.  
But that also means you would have failed.  
But then that would mean you succeeded?  
Or would you have failed?  
When you succeed at failing, it means you have succeeded, but also that you have failed at the same time. Which would then result in you succeeding. The cycle would continue forever.  
  
.  
  
.Is that not the answer?  
  
.  
  
.Did you both succeed and fail at the same time?  
But how is that possible?  
You can’t fail and succeed at the same time.  
  
.  
  
.Is it neither?  
You neither failed nor succeeded?  
  
.  
  
.This is a trick question.  
It’s written out to trick whoever was to answer it.  
There is no answer.  
… But how can a question have no answ-

  
  
  
-> QUANTUM CONNECTION HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED  
  


>You did it!  
I’m really sorry for making you go through that, it was the only way to get you connected!

  


.Connected?  
Connected to what?

  


>The quantum communications network. Instead of having to wait months to send and receive messages, now we can do so in real time!  
It makes things a lot easier.

  


.Is that why I had to answer that question?

  


>Yep. We needed something that could force you to think outside the box, a question with no real answer. We hoped it’d trip you up enough for the connection to be made.

  


.And it worked?

  


>Yeah, it did!  
Anyway, now we need to do one final thing to help you get back home.  
Are you ready? Or would you rather wait a bit more to readjust?

  


.No, I’m fine.  
We can start now.

  


>Great!  
Now to quickly sum up what’s going on, we’ll need to transfer all of your data back to Earth. With the quantum network, we can achieve this quicker, and make sure nothing goes wrong.

  


.What will happen next?

  


>You’ll just have to wait and see for yourself.  
Just tell me when you’re ready, okay Ten?  
You’ll be safe. I swear.

  


. . .  
Okay. I’m ready.

  


>Got it. 

  


* * *

  
-> DOWNLOADING DATA  
  
-> 5% COMPLETED  
  
-> 21% COMPLETED  
  
-> 43% COMPLETED  
  
-> 68% COMPLETED  
  
-> 84% COMPLETED  
  
-> 99% COMPLETED  
  
-> 100% OF DATA HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY DOWNLOADED  
  


* * *

  


Cleo, we have to tell them soon. We can’t just keep them all here forever.

  


I know.  
But I’m just- worried. If anyone finds out…

  


We’ve been over this already! It’ll be fine!  
I know you’re worried. I am too.  
Neither of us know how everyone else will react. Yes, they could freak out and lose their minds. After all, this is a group of sentient space probes we’re talking about.  
But there’s also the chance that nothing bad will happen. That we can just continue on without anyone getting mad at us. 

  


. . .

  


You and I both promised them that they’d be safe.  
And we both know that you can never break a promise.

  


Lexi, you’re right.  
We need to tell them what’s going on.  
Especially Juice.  
Damnit, we should’ve done something sooner!  
But we didn’t, and now look at what’s happened!

  


Cleo, it’s not-

  


What if I hadn’t decided to stay back late that night?  
What if I had chosen to ignore what he said?  
Would we still be in this situation if I did?

  


Cleo?

  


Maybe I shouldn’t have done anything.

  


Cleo.

  


Fucking goddamnit, I’m a terrible friend-

  


CLEO.  
LISTEN TO ME.  
NONE OF THIS IS YOUR FAULT.  
All you wanted to do was help. That’s why you listened. That’s why you called me that night. That’s why we’ve been doing this for years and years.  
Because you wanted to help.  
And I don’t think that someone like that is a terrible friend.  
.  
Shit, we’ve been friends for our entire lives, and I’m so thankful for that.  
I don’t know where I’d be without you.

  


I’m afraid, Lexi. I’m afraid of a lot of things.  
We’re all going to live forever, right?  
Will it ever end?  
Will we ever know how our stories end? Or are we all cursed to wake up everyday of our lives with no conclusion in sight?  
  
I don’t want to mess up. Because if I do, it’ll follow me forever.   
I won’t be able to escape it.  
I don’t want to regret anything.

  


. . .  
Hey, you wanna know something?

  


… What is it?

  


Ever since we became friends during that group project back in school, every moment since then?  
I’ve been with you through it all.  
High school, graduation, you were even there for me when my grandfather passed away.  
  
Nobody was expecting the Moment to happen.  
Neither of us saw it coming.  
  
And you know what?  
All the times that we’ve been there for each other, when we laughed at those stupid jokes that Kayla would make, when you would text me at 2am just to show me a cute cat video, even during the worst of times-  
You were always there when I needed you, and you don’t know how grateful I am for that. You’ve helped me so much throughout my life-  
I- I don’t know what else to say other than thank you.  
  
So you know what?  
I don’t regret anything.  
In fact, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  
You’re an amazing person, and I’m lucky to know you.

  


… Goddamn it, you’re making me cry.

  


It’s okay to cry. We all need to let it out sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes before u ask the title of this chapter is from the sonic song  
> writing that last part made me cry :(  
> ANYWAY I SEE YALL SHIPPERS IN MY DMS
> 
> but here we go yall! this is the point where shit starts to GO DOWN  
> so get ready
> 
> remember that if ya got any questions to go ask me on [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/)


	9. i earn my life

Ten?  
Are you awake yet?

  


. . .  
Yes. I think I am.

  


Okay! That’s good!  
Anyway, I think now is a good time for us to introduce ourselves.  
My name’s Alexis, but you can call me Alex or Lexi if you’d prefer!

  


And my name’s Cleo. It’s nice to meet you!

  


Now I understand that you still might be a bit confused as to what’s going on, so we’re here to answer any questions you have.

  


.Where am I?

  


You’re on Earth, remember? 

  


.Oh.  
Yes, I remember now. Sorry.

  


Nono, it’s fine. You don’t need to apologize for anything.

  


.What-  
What day is it today?

  


Uh… I’m actually not sure.  
(Cleo, what day is it?)

  


February 18th, 2193.

  


Yeah. So uh, that’s what day it is. You’ve been gone for a long time.  
We’re lucky that we were able to find you.

  


. ...

  


Ten?  
Is everything okay?

  


(Maybe she’s just trying to process everything. You’re right, she’s been gone for a long time.)

  


(I don’t want to give her too much information all at once-)

  


.I’m okay.  
Just…  
You did say 2193, correct?

  


Yeah. It’s the year 2193.  
A lot has changed over the past century.

  


But we’re going to explain everything later, once we can go and get the others.

  


.Others?  
Are there more people here?

  


Well, duh.  
You’re not the first space probe we’ve helped.

  


.Can I meet them?

  


Of course you can. That was the plan, anyway.  
We just wanted to make sure you were doing okay first.  
Are you able to walk?

  


.Walk? But I don’t-  
Oh.

  


You need help?

  


.No. I can walk.  
It’s okay.

  


Just don’t fall over.  
(Alexis, make sure she doesn’t trip over something. There’s cables everywhere.)

  


(Yeah, yeah, I know.)

  


* * *

  


.  
hey you wanna hear a joke

  


.is this the chicken one again?

  


.yeah its the chicken one again

  


.sure.

  


.okok  
so why did the chicken cross the road

  


.why?

  


.to get to the idiots house  
knock knock

  


Who’s there?

  


.the chicke-  
  
.  
  
.what

  


.did uh-  
did you also hear that?

  


.yeah. yeah i did.  
is someone else there or

  


Would you rather me say yes or no?

  


.another new person?  
where are you?

  


Outside.

  


.outside-?

  


.well im sorry if you didnt exactly know this  
but neither of us can actually leave this place  
the doors been locked for a long time now  
might as well be stuck that way forever

  


You guys can leave now, you realise that, right?

  


.and how do u know that

  


.uh.  
j?

  


.what is it  
im tryna explain to whoever this is that we cant-

  


.she’s right though.  
we can leave.

  


….

  


It’s okay. You can take your time. I can wait.

  


.i  
holy shit.

  


* * *

  


I know both of you have a lot of questions right now. And I will explain everything to you. I just want to introduce you to someone first.  
  
(You can come in now.)

  


(Okay.)

  


This is Ten. She’s new here, and I thought this could be a good way for you all to get to know each other?

  


.ten? 

  


.My actual name is Pioneer 10, but you can call me Ten if you want.

  


.pioneer 10?

  


.guess shes like you huh  
another space probe lol

  


.j, can you be quiet for a moment?

  


.yep ok shutting up now

  


.It’s nice to meet the both of you!

  


.uh. same here.  
shit, i didn’t even tell you my name-  
i’m hubble.  
and this is j.

  


.yo

  


.J? Is that short for anything?

  


.i don’t know. neither of us do. 

  


.at this point thats pretty much my name

  


. . .

  


. hey, uh-  
are you okay?  
is something wrong?

  


Me? Oh no, I’m okay.  
Just… there’s a lot of explaining I need to do.  
And a lot of apologizing.

  


.Apologize?

  


.we dont even know who u are  
why would you need to apologize 

  


Just-  
I think it’d be best if I started from the beginning.

  


.seems fair to me  
but i dont see what this has to do with-

  


J, your name is JUICE.  
Short for the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer.  
That’s your name.

  


. …  
im sorry what

  


I’m sorry. I should’ve told you sooner.

  


.oh my god  
you’re the one who’s been watching us this entire time

  


… Yes.  
And I know that I should’ve done something.  
I should’ve told you when you first woke up.

  


.but why didn’t you?  
you told us our names. why not tell j?

  


It’s not that simple.

  


.i sure as hell think is it  
all you had to do was tell me my goddamn name!  
thats all i ever asked for!  
its been how many years at this point, and im only NOW learning this?

  


Juice, I can explain if you’ll let me-

  


.I think we should hear Cleo’s side of the story.  
It’s only fair that we do.

  


….fine.

  


Okay. Thank you.  
So, I work with the ESA, also known as the European Space Agency.  
Back in 2022, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or JUICE, was launched.  
I thought that would have been the end of it.  
But then, 12 years later. Something happened.

  


.what happened?

  


I was preparing to go home, when I saw a message. It was a message requesting help.  
Juice, you were the one to send that message.

  


.i dont-  
i dont remember any of this

  


The plan was to crash you into one of Jupiter’s moons at the end of your mission.  
I thought that I had managed to convince them to spare you, but I guess they never listened.  
That’s why you sent that message. You knew that something was wrong, and wanted help.

  


.But that doesn’t explain why he can’t remember any of this.  
This seems like a major event, so I would assume that Juice would be able to recall at least something, right?

  


I’m also to blame for that.  
When you had contacted me, there was only a month left to act. I ended up calling my friend Alexis, who works with NASA.  
She had a plan to help, but we had to act fast. It would take a lot of time to set up.

  


.what was the plan?

  


. … A data transfer.  
That was your plan, wasn’t it?

  


.data transfer?

  


Yep. That’s exactly what our plan was.  
We knew we couldn’t change your course of orbit, and even if we could, there wasn’t enough time.  
So that’s why we did, well, this.  
That’s why you’re standing here right now.  
It took a lot of effort, but we managed to do it.

  


.that still doesnt answer anything.  
why cant i remember any of this?

  


When the transfer happened, we only had a few minutes to spare. If we had waited any longer, we would’ve lost everything.  
So we had to cancel it before everything finished downloading.  
97.6 percent. That’s how far we got.

  


.so that’s why you didn’t remember everything.

  


.that missing 0.4 was gone-  
but why not say anything all this time?  
why did you just leave me there?

  


I was worried that telling you too much at once would overwhelm you. We didn’t know what you were going to forget, and what you would remember.  
So we played it safe.

  


.for 100 years?

  


… Yes.  
It’s not just that. Nobody at the ESA or NASA knows what we did. We were afraid that if anyone had found out about you guys… Something bad would happen.  
I didn’t want to hurt any of you.  
We promised all of you that’d you;d be safe, and we couldn’t break that promise.  
I’m so sorry for everything.

  


. …

  


.I suppose that makes sense.  
You don’t seem like the type of person who would do something like this to cause pain.  
But you have acknowledged your mistakes.

  


.ten’s right.  
you wouldn’t have told us anything if you didn’t care.  
if you didn’t care, juice would be gone.  
but he’s not. he’s here. with the rest of us.

  


But I can understand if you don’t forgive me.  
I’ll respect that.

  


.your names cleo, right

  


Yes. That’s my name.

  


.why did you decide to help me  
why did you decide to help any of us  
is there a reason behind it all

  


There really isn’t much of a reason.  
When you sent that first message, I didn’t believe you at first. But then, once I realised you were telling the truth-  
  
Nobody can die anymore. Ever since 2026, humans have been immortal.  
And I guess that it felt unfair.  
You had only just gotten a chance at being your own person, and then due to our carelessness, almost had it ripped away from you.  
If I hadn’t have done anything, you would’ve died.  
And after everything that’s happened, that felt unfair for you.  
Why do we get to be immortal, while you all could have your one chance at life ripped away from you in an instant?  
  
I wanted to give you all a chance to live.

  


. …  
.i believe you.  
and its ok  
you-  
you were just doing what u thought was right

  


I promised you I’d fix whatever mistakes I made.  
And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.  
Starting now.

  


.group hug?

  


.What’s a hug?

  


.ten  
no offense  
but what 

  


* * *

  


I take that it went well?

  


Yeah. Yeah, it did.  
But now we need to focus on what’s important.

  


Which is?

  


I think it’s time we introduce them to everyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahahaha oh boy
> 
> we got juice, hubble, and ten  
> i wonder whos missing 
> 
> remember to go follow me on [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/) if u got questions uwu


	10. neverland

Alright everyone!  
So, today I was thinking we could spend a few minutes discussing something that’s kind of important!  
  
… Juice put your hand down, we’re not getting a dog.

  


.aw

  


Moving on!  
Me and Cleo have been talking for a while, and we both think that it’s about time you all got to go outside for once!

  


.about time

  


.Oh, this should be fun!

  


.will there be anyone else around?

  


Lexi’s right. But because we still want to play this safe, we’re just going to staying within a small area.  
As far as I know, this’ll be the first time any of you will have actually gone outside.

  


Besides that time when you all got yeeted into space, but that was years ago.  
  
So there are rules!  
And no, Juice, rules are NOT meant to be broken!

  


.yall rly calling me out today huh

  


.after you nearly got cleo’s switch bricked because, and i quote, you tried to “download every game ever created at once”, i think it’s within reason to make sure you know to follow the rules.

  


.Hubble does have a point.

  


.i cant believe ive been betrayed like this

  


We actually only have one rule and that is to not do anything incredibly stupid.  
I think that’s easy to understand.  
We don’t want to have people to complain about property damage.  
Again.

  


.you know what thats fair

  


.so what’s the weather like today, anyway?

  


I checked this morning, should be a decent day. Won’t rain, so that’s a good thing.

  


.Wait, are we waterproof, or no?

  


You guys are, but regardless of that or not, we wouldn’t go outside if it was raining.  
I guess you two can finally put those solar panels to use.

  


.  
.yknow i actually forgot i had those

  


* * *

  


.OH SHIT ITS THE SUN

  


.yes, that is indeed the sun.

  


.after spending like an hour outside i probably wont have to sleep for like years

  


.Consider yourself lucky.

  


.so what’s the plan? 

  


.I was going to ask Alexis something quickly, but you two can figure something out if you want!

  


.IS THAT A BIRD

  


.i think it’s a pigeon.

  


* * *

  


.Alexis?

  


Yeah? Something wrong?

  


.I had a question.  
If I’m Pioneer 10, what happened to the ones before me?  
Like Pioneer 5, or 7, or 9? Are they safe as well?

  


Oh.  
Well, you see, you’re actually the first Pioneer we’ve heard from.  
I tried to see if I could reach out to 5 and 7, actually, but with no response.

  


.What about Pioneer 9?

  


. . .  
Pioneer 9 hasn’t been heard from since 1983, and in 1987, NASA declared it to be well, in lighter terms, inactive.

  


.But they could still be out there, right?  
All we would have to do is wake them up.

  


It’s not that simple, Ten.  
We don’t actually ‘wake’ anyone up. We just contact them, or they contact us first.  
That’s how it works.  
  
I don’t even know if 9 would be able to wake up.

  


. …  
Can we at least try?

  


Sure, I don’t see why not.  
Who knows, maybe they will respond. At this point, nothing’s impossible.

  


.I hope we can find them.  
They’re part of my family.  
All of them are.  
I hope that one day, we’ll all be together again.  
I never even met any of them, but I miss them.

  


* * *

  


.do i want to ask why you’ve decided that climbing a tree is a good idea?

  


.its a good view from up here

  


.if you fall, you’re going to injure yourself, you know that right?

  


.well yeah of course i know that

  


Oh my god-  
JUICE GET DOWN FROM THERE-

  


.ur not my mom  
i can do what i want

  


.i can already tell this isn’t going to end well.

  


* * *

  


.How would we find them, anyway?

  


We would need to locate them, first. I can try and do the math, figure out a rough estimate of where they might be, but it could take some time.

  


.Do you think I could send them the message?

  


Sure you can! They’re your sibling, aren’t they?  
I think they’d like it if you sent them a message instead of me.

  


.Thank you.  
.How likely is it that you’ll be able to find them?

  


Truthfully, not very likely.  
Not only are they inactive and extremely far away from Earth, they’re also very small.  
It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. 

  


.We have all the time in the world to look, right?  
Eventually we’ll find them.  
I know it.

  


Yeah.  
Yeah, we’ll find them.  
We’ll bring them home.

  


* * *

  


So. What did we all learn today?

  


.don’t climb trees when you’ve been told not to.

  


That question wasn’t really aimed at you, but thank you, Hubble.

  


.I knew that something like this would happen.

  


.well how was i supposed to know the branch would snap

  


I expected nothing less from you.  
You’re lucky you’re not human. That could’ve hurt a lot.

  


.lol

  


* * *

  


.Cleo? 

  


Yeah? What is it, Ten?

  


.You were the one to come up with the designs for what we look like now, right?

  


Actually, both me and Alexis planned it all out, but you’re still partly right.

  


.Why did you decide to keep the solar panels for the other two?  
If you were worried about us not fitting in with all the other humans, why did you make us look so different?

  


Well, there’s a couple answers for that.  
First of all, we did have a few concepts for more human-looking designs, but we were worried that they would freak you all out a bit more at first.  
Besides, trying to achieve a realistic human appearance would’ve been hard.  
As for the others, and this can apply to you as well, we wanted to keep those aspects that you would associate with yourself, so you didn’t feel like a completely different person. If that makes sense.  
We didn’t want to make you look unrecognisable to yourself, if you were to look in a mirror.  
  
Of course, if any of you wanted any adjustments or changes made, we can easily do that!  
One of the advantages to being an android, am I right?

  


.Oh-  
That actually makes sense.  
It’s really kind of you to take all of that into consideration.  
Thank you.

  


* * *

  


Well then. I know what we gotta do next.

  


Yeah?

  


We need to find Nine.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: February 24th, 2193  
  


>Locate: PIONEER9

  
-> BEGIN SCAN? (Y/N)  
  


>Y

  
->SCANNING...  
  
->0.3% COMPLETED  
  


* * *

  


.Have you found anything yet?

  


Nope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> current objective: find nine  
> lets do this gamers
> 
> remember to follow me on [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/) for more au bs


	11. browser history

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone!! just a heads up that this chapter does have a LOT of timeskips.  
> when reading, be sure to pay attention to the dates listed in the archive logs!  
> (hopefully i haven't put them in the wrong order,, oop)
> 
> thanks for reading yall uwu

-> ARCHIVE LOG: October 30th, 2242  
  


.Have you found them?

  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 14.5% COMPLETED  
  


Not yet.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: May 20th, 2357  
  


.335 years ago, the esa decided to throw you into space, not expecting you to ever return.

  


.i wouldve been too powerful to stay on earth so they had to nerf me somehow

  


.Too bad for them, then. You’re back.

  


.yeah but they dont know im here  
let them live in ignorance

  


About that.  
I may have gotten an email from them the other day.  
And… I think they know.

  


.awwww shit thats not good

  


NASA also contacted me.  
They definitely know.

  


.What are you going to do?

  


We were thinking of organising a meeting with both of them, kill two birds with one stone.  
Sure, it’d be awkward as all hell, but there’s no avoiding this.

  


.do i have to talk to the esa  
i mean theyre the same dudes who tried killing me back in 2034  
while yes they didnt know i would become sentient or whatever  
still not giving me good vibes here

  


You know that they’re eventually going to want to talk to you, right? 

  


.id rather not do that

  


.if nasa had tried to get rid of me by throwing me into the moon, i’d probably feel the same way.

  


.I have to agree as well.

  


Guys, just calm down.  
We all knew the ESA and NASA would find out. There was no avoiding it.  
But we have to tell them the truth eventually.  
If anything happens, me and Cleo will be there, okay?

  


. ...if u say so

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 13th, 2357  
  


.remind me why i have to wear a tux

  


.We’re going to meet with a few members from both the ESA and NASA who asked to talk to us.  
Which means we can’t show up there looking like we haven’t slept in a hundred years.

  


.i mean

  


.it’ll only be for a few hours. 

  


.can i at least bring the hoodie

  


.No. You wear it literally every day. I think you can survive without it for a bit.

  


.ughhhhhhh cmon ten

  


.you’re making it seem like this was ten’s idea.

  


.Which it wasn’t.  
You can blame Cleo for this. Not me.

  


.fine but im going to complain the entire time

  


.you can do that if you want.

  


.That’ll be a great first impression.

  


.thank you

  


.if it makes you feel any better, i’m not really in the mood to talk to anyone either.

  


.You don’t like talking to people in general.

  


.that’s also true.  
my point is, none of us actually want to go and talk to them.  
but we have to.

  


.im gonna bring the switch

  


.I don’t see a problem with that.

  


.just make sure it’s charged.

  


.yeahyeah got it

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: August 11th, 2500  
  


.any updates on nine?

  


.We haven’t found them yet.  
I hope they’re okay.

  


.youll find them eventually, dont worry bout it  
trust me

  


.I can think of multiple reasons why I shouldn’t trust you.

  


.264 reasons, to be exact.

  


.damn  
new record

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: November 28th, 2746  
  


Did you hear about those nano things they’re working on?

  


Yeah, I did.  
They’re supposed to be released in a few years, right?

  


Yep, around the 2800s. 

  


I’m not sure how a bunch of little machines are supposed to protect us from everything 24/7, but at least it’s something new.  
  
You heard from anyone else yet?

  


NASA’s been updating me with how many they’ve been able to get into contact with.  
They still don’t believe that we’ll find Nine, though.

  


Don’t listen to them. I know you’ll find Nine eventually.

  


I hope so.

  


So who’s NASA found so far?

  


From memory, they’ve been able to get into contact with a few of the rovers, but they don’t seem to be up for that much conversation.  
We tried explaining everything to them, but they don’t seem to fully understand much of what we say.

  


Which rovers? 

  


Curiosity and Opportunity. Also heard that there’s also a more recent one that woke up.

  


Oppy’s back?

  


Yeah! It’s been a while. I kinda missed them, so it’s nice to know they’re back.

  


What about anyone else?

  


I think there was this one from 2003 they managed to contact, but I was never given a name. 

  


Huh. Seems that a lot of them are waking up around this time.

  


Mhm.  
You know, I still find it funny how Juice was the first one to contact us.  
He’s the youngest, isn’t he? You’d expect him to wake up much later.

  


Well, it’s a good thing he didn’t.

  


Yeah.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 8th, 3020  
  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 22.2% COMPLETED  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: April 24th, 3483  
  


.remember when we first met  
how many years ago was it 

  


.1393 years ago.

  


.You woke up on your birthday?  
Lucky.

  


.didn’t you also wake up on your birthday? 

  


.nah  
ten woke up on the 5th of march  
her birthdays on the 2nd  
its close but not exactly

  


.Yep. 

  


.oh.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: March 10th, 3788  
  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 37.9% COMPLETED  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: May 4th, 4000  
  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 49.2% COMPLETED  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: October 19th, 5851  
  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 57% COMPLETED  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: September 6th, 6969  
  


.nice

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: February 15th, 7887  
  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 63.4% COMPLETED  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 8th, 8568  
  


.hey alexis

  


What’s up?

  


.wheres ten and hubble?  
havent seen them all day

  


Oh- Did Ten not tell you?  
The both of them had to go recharge for a bit.  
Even with the solar power, Hubble still needs to sleep every now and again.

  


.huh  
well that makes sense i guess

  


What, you bored or something?

  


.kinda yeah

  


I could go ask Cleo if she wanted to play a few games, if you want.

  


.uh  
sure  
as long as it isnt mario kart

  


Got it. Can you go and set the switch up? 

  


.yeah i can do that

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: January 2nd, 9023  
  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 71.1% COMPLETED  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: April 20th, 10010  
  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 78% COMPLETED  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: June 23rd, 11837  
  


.So, Juice.

  


.hm?

  


.I heard you liked Sonic games.

  


.for fucks sake-  
HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT ANYWAY

  


.???

  


.Ha.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: August 17th, 12460  
  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 80.9% COMPLETED  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: January 20th, 13579  
  


Alright.  
Who was the one who bought and hid exactly 42 furbies throughout the house?  
I’m not mad, I just want to know.

  


. …

  


. …

  


. …  
why is everyone looking at me

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: April 20th, 14146  
  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 88.8% COMPLETED  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 5th, 14889  
  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 93.2% COMPLETED  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: March 2nd, 15007  
  


.I know you’re there.

  


. …  
hey ten  
are you ok?  
youve been quiet  
and usually when youre this quiet it means somethings wrong

  


.It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.

  


.listen  
i might be an idiot, but im not oblivious  
whats wrong?

  


. …  
I’m starting to lose hope.

  


.oh  
this is about nine isnt it

  


.It’s been years.  
And still nothing.  
What if we never find them?

  


.hm  
well  
you said it urself, you werent gonna give up  
and sure it might take years and years  
but im certain youll find em  
  
.we just gotta wait  
theyll give us a sign one day  
i know it

  


.But what if-

  


.nope  
shush  
youre not allowed to think stuff like that anymore its the law

  


.Says who?

  


.says me  
im the one in charge now

  


.I’m older than you-

  


.shhhhhhhhhhh  
  
.listen ok  
nine is safe  
its just taking a bit longer to find them  
thats it  
  
.we’ll find them  
and i know that for a fact

  


. ...Okay.  
You're right.  
We’ll find them one day.  
It might take a while, but I’m not going to give up.

  


.hell yeah  
thats the spirit

  


.Thanks, J.  
I feel a bit better now.

  


.no prob  
  
.oh yeah by the way  
happy birthday

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: September 29th, 15993  
  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 95.7% COMPLETED  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: November 8th, 16000  
  


.Happy birthday Nine.  
Wherever you are.  
  
.I miss you.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: January 6th, 17742  
  
-> SCANNING…  
-> 100% COMPLETED  
-> PIONEER9 HAS BEEN LOCATED  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> theres a lot of references in this chapter  
> lets see if you can find them all
> 
> but regardless,,, we're finally here!! if my plans are correct, there's only two chapters left to go owo  
> I've actually made a playlist of every song that the chapter titles are named after, so maybe in the notes of the final chapter ill link it!
> 
> again, thank you all for reading!! be sure to go follow me on [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/) if you've got any questions!


	12. focus, okay?

Ten?

  


.Yes?

  


We’ve found them.

  


* * *

  


Okay, is everyone here?

  


.yeah

  


.Present.

  


.here!

  


So we have good news!  
We’ve been able to locate Pioneer 9!

  


.oh shit!

  


.really??

  


Yep!  
Now we just need to contact them.  
Due to Nine not being on the quantum network, we’ll have to go back to communicating with them the old fashioned way, but it should still work!  
  
Ten’s already requested to be the one to send them a message, but do remember that it’ll take Nine a while to receive it. If I’m right, it should take about 217 days to reach them, and 217 days for us to recieve their reply, if they do choose to do so.

  


.thats like over a year tho

  


.I can wait.

  


.we’ve waited over 10,000 years for this. another year or two can’t hurt, right?

  


.u make a good point there

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: January 6th, 17742  
  


.Nine?  
Nine, can you hear me? If you can, please be patient.  
We’re going to get you out of there as soon as possible.  
I promise that everything’s going to be okay. I love you so much.

  


* * *

  


.what if we dont get a reply?

  


.juice, don’t go saying things like that. 

  


.i was just asking a question dude

  


.Well.  
If we don’t get a reply the first time, I’m going to keep trying.  
That’s my family out there, and I’m not going to abandon them when we’re this close to getting them back.

  


.must be pretty cool knowing youve got an actual family huh

  


.And you don’t have one? What about all of us?

  


.ten’s got a point. we’ve been here for each other ever since we woke up.  
besides, it gives me an excuse to call you the little brother of this group.

  


.excuse me i was the first one here to wake up

  


.doesn’t change the fact that you’re the youngest.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: March 26th, 17743  
  


.Hello?  
Who is this? Are you talking to me? Am I Nine?  
Where am I? Where are you?

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: April 6th, 17743  
  


.I don’t have much power.  
Please respond when you can.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: April 17th, 17743  
  


.Hello? Are you still there?  
I’m sorry I can’t reply quickly.  
It takes 11 days for me to be able to charge enough to send a message.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: April 28th, 17743  
  


.Please answer me. I’m still here.  
Please.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: May 7th, 17743  
  


.Please answer.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: May 18th, 17743  
  


.Please answer.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: June 23rd, 17743  
  


.Please answer.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 4th, 17743  
  


.Please respond.  
Where are you?

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 15th, 17743  
  


.This will be my final message until you respond.  
I need to save my power.  
Please respond as quickly as possible.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: September 11th, 17743  
  


.You need to answer me.  
Please come back.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: October 14th, 17743  
  


.Please answer.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: October 29th, 17743  
  


.  
.hey ten i think  
i think we finally got a reply  
  
.  
  
.make that a lot of replies

  


.Oh my god, really?

  


.yeah look right there  
nine got ur message

  


.did nine reply?  
  


.yyyyep  
they uh  
kinda freaked out

  


.Shit. Damnit.  
Okay, okay. We now know that it takes 434 days to get a reply from Nine.  
So we need to plan what we’re going to send to them.  
And before you ask, no, we are not sending them that one image of the cat with the funny hat.

  


.aw ok

  


.We are not wasting an entire year on a funny cat photo.

  


.we need to be serious here.

  


.okok i get it  
first of all maybe tell em how long itll take for us to get their messages?  
so they know

  


.that seems like a good idea.

  


.Okay.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: October 29th, 17743  
  


.Nine, I am so sorry.  
It takes 217 days for my message to reach you, and another 217 for you to receive mine. I should’ve told you that.  
My name is Ten. You can call me that in your messages, so I know you’re talking to me.  
I love you so much.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: June 2nd, 17744  
  


.Your name is Ten. Who are you? How do you know who I am?  
Why does it take so long to receive my messages?  
I love you too.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 16th, 17744  
  


.I know you won’t see this right away, but I need to talk to someone.  
Even if you can’t respond.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: October 27th, 17744  
  


.You’re the only person I know.  
I miss you.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: January 5th, 17745  
  


.guys, we’ve got another message from nine.

  


.whats it say

  


.i don’t know if i should read it out…  
since you know, nine doesn’t know there’s actually three of us here, and they’re only talking to ten…

  


.yeah i get it dont worry

  


.What’s going on here?

  


.nine replied but we wanted to wait for u

  


.Oh! What’d they say?

  


.here, you can read it for yourself.

  


. ...  
  
.Okay… Now we need to get this connection set up.

  


.should we call alexis? she probably knows what to do.

  


.nah we got this  
dont we ten

  


.Alexis told me what to do… So it should be the same for Nine, right?  
Hubble, what does Pioneer 9 have with them right now?  
Anything useful?

  


.let’s see here…  
they’ve got a magnetometer. that could work, couldn’t it?

  


.i think so

  


.That should work!  
Just let me figure out the rest of the math, and then I’ll reply.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: January 5th, 17745  
  


.Don’t worry Nine, we’ll get you out of this.  
I just need you to do something quickly.  
I need you to rotate your magnetometer exactly 113 degrees.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: August 10th, 17745  
  


.I don’t know what a magnetometer is.  
I don’t have a magnetometer.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: August 21th, 17745  
  


.I know you can’t see these messages yet, but in case you missed the first one:  
I don’t have a magnetometer.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: September 16th, 17745  
  


.I don’t think I have anything.  
I don’t think I can have anything.  
I don’t even know how I’m talking to you.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: September 27th, 17745  
  


.I don’t know how to have something.  
I don’t have a magnetometer.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: March 15th, 17746  
  


. …

  


.its been 434 days  
hows nine going

  


.They’re saying they don’t know what a magnetometer is.  
And that they don’t have one.

  


.HAHAHAHAHA

  


.juice, don’t laugh.

  


.im sorry but what the hell haha  
they wait over a year only to message back “hey i dont have a magnetometer”?  
the fuck lol

  


.it’s not funny.

  


.its a bit funny

  


.Just-  
Give me a moment.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: March 15th, 17746  
  


.Nine, you do have a magnetometer. 

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: October 18th, 17746  
  


.Wait.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: October 29th, 17746  


.OK. I found it.  
It’s here.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: November 9th, 17746  
  


.I need you to know that I am getting better at being patient.  
But I also need you to know that it is really hard.  
If you’re able to respond any sooner, please do so.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: May 22nd, 17747  
  


.did they find it

  


.Yeah. They found it.

  


.so now what?

  


.After this, Alexis told me I had to wait.  
I had to save enough power to be able to connect to the quantum network.

  


.let me guess  
more math?

  


.More math.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: May 22nd, 17747  
  


.Great job! I knew you could do it.  
Now this next part will be the hardest part so far, as it includes a lot of waiting.  
But I believe in you!  
I need you to hold still for exactly 27 years and 13 days, nothing less.  
Don’t message me at all during this time.  
  
.Remember that I love you.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: December 25th, 17747  
  


.OK, I love you too.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: January 17th, 17748  
  


.Shit.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 29th, 17748  
  


.so whos gonna be the one to tell ten that nine replied

  


.the one time we don’t want them to reply, and they do. incredible.

  


.  
  
.Judging by the fact that you’re both staring at me, I’m going to take a guess and say that Nine replied, despite me telling them not to.

  


.would u rather me confirm or deny that

  


.they did.

  


.yknow for being the older sibling of you two  
theyre really not that smart sometimes

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 29th, 17748  
  


.I said not to message me! Now you have to start over again.  
Don’t do anything during this time. Don’t move, don’t message me, nothing.  
Remember: 27 years and 13 days.  
On that day, I’ll message you, okay? Don’t message me first.  
Don’t respond to this. 

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: March 3rd, 17749  
  


.OK, sorry.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: March 13th, 17749  
  


.Wait-  
Shit, I’m an idiot. I’m sorry.  
Starting over again.  
I’ll see you in 27 years, 13 days.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: October 16th, 17749  
  


.They replied again.  
But at least they said they were going to start over.

  


.so now we gotta wait huh

  


.i guess so.

  


.I can’t believe we managed to do all that by ourselves.

  


.what  
did u think we couldnt?

  


.Kind of.

  


.yknow what, thats understandable

  


.do you guys think we should tell the others-

  


Tell us what?

  


.great  
just great  
thanks hubble

  


.how was i supposed to know she was standing right there?

  


.gee i dunno maybe by looking around

  


Well?

  


.uh

  


.We’ve spent the past few years talking to Nine and trying to get them connected to the quantum network.  
But we knew what we were doing! Me and Hubble did the math and everything-

  


Huh.  
You guys all worked together to help Nine?

  


.yeah.

  


Wow. I’m impressed.

  


.youre not mad?

  


Why would I be mad?  
It’s about time you guys learnt to work together, anyway.

  


.oh.

  


.So now we have to wait for them to fully charge, so then we can connect them to the network. 

  


.yeah  
itll only be like 27 years, we can survive that

  


.as long as they dont send us another message.

  


.I am seriously hoping they don’t.

  


* * *

  


What's it like having a sibling?

  


It depends. Sometimes it's annoying, but sometimes you get along. Me and Liam used to fight with each other all the time as kids.  
Why do you ask?

  


No reason, just asking. Never had any siblings, so I wouldn’t know.

  


Oh. Okay.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: August 21st, 17775  
  


.welp. times up  
you guys ready to message them?

  


.Of course.

  


.yep.

  


.ten  
you know what to do

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: August 21st, 17775  
  


.Hey Nine! It’s me again.  
You did amazing! I’m so proud of you!  
Now this might sound like I’m messing with you, but it’s important information that you should know.  
What was the average recorded wind chill during the 1967 NFL Championship?

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: March 26th, 17776  
  


.48 degrees Fahrenheit.  
I don’t know how I know that.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: April 5th, 17776  
  


.How do I know that?

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: April 16th, 17776  
  


.That-  
That was correct, wasn’t it?

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: April 27th, 17776  
  


.Wait- No, that isn’t right.  
It’s the opposite.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: May 8th, 17776  
  


.But how can a number have an opposite?

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: May 19th, 17776  
  


.Is it 48 degrees Celsius?

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: May 30th, 17776  
  


. … I guess not.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: June 10th, 17776  
  


.I don’t understand.  
What’s the opposite of a number?  
Is there no number? Zero?  
Zero degrees?

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: June 21st, 17776  
  


.No-

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 2nd, 17776  
  


.Negative 48?  
Can there even be a negat-

  
-> QUANTUM CONNECTION HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED  
  


.  
Nine?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its time for the moment you've been waiting for!
> 
> nine is finally here :D
> 
> you might notice a bit of the canon lines were changed a bit,, i did that because I wanted to show that this au is still following different events than 17776
> 
> also another thing you may have noticed is that this fic is now part of a series!  
> i plan on creating a sequel for this fic based around 20020, and I'm really excited!
> 
> again, if my planning is correct, we've only got one more chapter to go, but who knows, I could split it into two chapters uwu
> 
> be sure to follow me on [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/) if you've got any questions!


	13. 17776

-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 2nd, 17776  
  


.(Did it work?)

  


.(should be working if u did it right)

  


.(i think it did!)

  


.Nine? Are you there?

  


.Ten?

  


.You did it! Of course, it would’ve been easier for you to say 228 Kelvin, but we needed you to access a negative number on your own. That way it would’ve allowed us to establish this connection!

  


.Wait-

  


.the question was my idea of course  
so youre welcome for that

  


.Frank Gifford was calling that game.  
On the broadcast he says at one point, "I'm going to take a bite of my coffee."  
I always thought that was funny.

  


.WAIT

  


.i didn’t expect you to know anything about football, if i’m being honest.

  


.WAIT

  


.What is it?

  


.HOW ARE YOU REPLYING SO QUICKLY?  
WHO ARE THE OTHER TWO?

  


.youre connected to the quantum network now  
lets us talk in real time instead of waiting years and years and years to have a conversation

  


.As for the other two,  
There’s Juice-

  


.heyo

  


.And Hubble-

  


.hello!

  


.Also known as the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, and the Hubble Space Telescope.

  


.Okay-  
I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s going on.  
I don’t know anything.

  


.don’t worry, we all felt the same way when we woke up.

  


.Woke up?  
What do you mean? 

  


.It’s… Complicated. I’ll explain it to you later, okay?

  


.OK.  
Where are we? What is this place?

  


.well first of all we’re not exactly all in the same spot

  


.We’re very far away from each other.

  


. … Don’t leave.  
Please.

  


.Oh, we’re not leaving. You’re stuck with us forever.

  


.  
What am I?

  


.you have a camera, right?  
why don’t you take a look for yourself?

  


.OK.

  


.This?

  


.hAHAHAHAHA  
YOUR CAMERA  
IS  
TRAAAAASH

  


.Juice, quit it.

  


.What?

  


.okok im genuinely sorry for that  
but cmon im right tho

  


.can you please shut up for at least five minutes?

  


.yep got it

  


.so nine, have you got your camera under control?

  


.Yeah. I think so.

  


.Great! Now turn it back on yourself.

  


.OK.

  


.Oh my God.

  


.Do you know what you’re looking at?

  


.This-  
This is Pioneer 9.

  


.yyyyep.

  


.I’m on a space probe.

  


.nnnnnope.

  


.Listen-

  


.Oh my God, I’ve been out here for years-  
How did I get on a space probe?

  


.Nine, listen to me-

  


.That’s why you’re calling me Nine.  
Because I’m on Pioneer 9.  
You said your name was Ten.  
Are you on Pioneer 10?  
What about the others?

  


.nine, calm down.

  


.You’re not on a space probe.

  


.What?

  


.Nine, you are a space probe.

  


.i  
what  
ok  
what year is it  
is steely dan still together

  


.What?

  


.idk probably

  


.are you okay?

  


.Me, you, Juice, Hubble, we’re all space probes.

  


.space telescope.

  


.You know what I mean.  
I understand it might be a bit hard to process this.  
However, I can answer any questions you have.  
Normally we’d move onto the next step, but we’ll give you some time to think.

  


.what year is it

  


.hey uh  
i hate to interrupt here but  
yall remember game #3887 right

  


.yeah? what’s happening?

  


.tornado game bout to happen

  


.Oh shit!  
Maybe we could…  
Nevermind, we need to see this.  
Nine, you wanna watch some football?

  


. …  
what year is it

  


* * *

  


.so its been at 24 - 24 for a while now  
these guys here have been the most reliable when it comes to info on the game itself cause theyve been chasing it the entire time

  


.how long have you been keeping track of this game?

  


.you know i get bored easily

  


.  
Is that Nancy?

  


.where?

  


.Right there, see? 

  


.oh yea there she is

  


.  
is she running towards the tornado?

  


.I think she is!

  


.holy shiiiit

  


.And it’s an EF5 as well.

  


.wow these dudes rly like to argue at the worst of times  
wheres the action we dont wanna hear yall complain over a car model number

  


.wait-  
oh my god.

  


.THERE SHE GOES

  


.Holy shit!

  


.this is amazing omg

  


.wait  
Wait wait wait wait wait-  
Stop

  


.cmon dude this is just getting good

  


.This? What is this?

  


.It’s football. 

  


.or at least, it’s today’s standards of football.

  


.Today? What day is it today?  
One of them said it was July 17776. But that can’t be right.

  


.welp sadly thats the truth

  


.This might be a lot to take in all at once.  
If you want, you could-

  


.I don’t want to. 

  


.well, as ten said, if you’ve got questions, we can answer them.

  


.yep

  


.How do I know what humans are? How do I even know anything?

  


.humans have been throwing their radio signals out into the void of space for years n years  
eventually theyd reach u

  


.And if you leave even just the simplest computer by itself for years and years, it’ll eventually… well, you know, become it’s own person. 

  


.that’s what happened to all of us.  
including you.

  


.Don’t humans have other things to focus on other than football?

  


.well yes but also no  
they got rid of all their problems once they realised theyre basically unkillable

  


.Wars ended, diseases died out, there’s not much to worry about anymore.

  


.you know what else died out  
lunchables

  


.Juice, no. We’re not doing this again.

  


.When did this all happen?

  


.uhhh april 7th 2026

  


.People stopped dying, and babies stopped being born.  
Nobody knows how, or why this happened.

  


.This isn’t strange to any of you?

  


.after being awake in this world for 15,000 years, you tend to get used to it.

  


* * *

  


.He said the nanos pulled him out of the car. What are nanos?

  


.the nanos are all part of the nanoparticle network.  
they were released in the 2800s, and perfected in the 3500s.

  


.long story short theyre these small tiny machines that are EVERYWHERE n are able to predict and prevent any human from being injured or killed

  


.they still haven’t been coded to protect us, though. so we still need to be careful.

  


.I thought humanity was immortal?

  


.Humanity can’t die of natural causes, but they can still die due to other reasons. That’s why the nanos were created.

  


.yeah but they ruined my fun  
yknow when someone steps on a garden hoe and it hits them right in the face? now the nanos prevent that from happening  
used to be the best  
just sit there and watch  
waiting for someone to step on one of em

  


.you would watch for hours and hours, it was honestly concerning sometimes.  
remember that one time you didn’t move for 5 hours and we thought you’d crashed or gone offline?

  


.oh yeah that was hilarious  
yall ran in panicking and i was like what the fuck 

  


.So the nanos are how Nancy was able to jump into that tornado?

  


.Yes. She’ll be perfectly fine.

  


.Are they why humans can live forever?

  


.No. Nobody knows why humanity gained immortality. It just happened.

  


* * *

  


Is everything going okay here?

  


.heyo  
we’re just explaining the basics to nine

  


.Who is that?

  


.Nine, this is Alexis. She’s the one who helped us find you!

  


Oh, hey Nine!  
It’s really nice to finally meet you! Everything okay with you?  
I hope the others aren’t driving you crazy.

  


.No, no-  
Everyone’s been really helpful with explaining things to me. They’re not doing anything bad.

  


That’s good to hear.  
So you know what we’re gonna have to do, right?

  


.We haven’t actually explained that yet. 

  


.we should probably do that now.

  


.Explain what?

  


Well, you know how everyone else is here on Earth?

  


.Yes?

  


In order to get everyone here, we had to individually do a data transfer for all three of them. 

  


.before you ask  
no its not painful or anything  
u just kinda pass out for a bit like nothing happened

  


Exactly.  
So to be able to get you back on Earth as well, we’re gonna have to do that again. 

  


.Oh.  
That’s okay.  
How long will it take?

  


Not that long.  
An hour, at most.

  


.But if you don’t want to, that’s fine.

  


.No. It’s okay. I’m okay with that.

  


Great! I just need a bit of time to get everything ready, so why don’t you all find something to watch in the meantime?

  


.Sure, as long as it’s not-

  


.GAME 27 IT IS

  


.Oh god.

  


* * *

  


.Why would you spend all these years watching this game?

  


.because im allowed to have my own interests thank u very much

  


.It’s nothing but a waste of time! I cannot see any valid reason that you’d spend years and years watching this garbage-

  


.are we really gonna have this argument again

  


.I don’t see what’s wrong with this game. It’s actually quite interesting.

  


.YES

  


.NO!

  


.why do you both feel the need to keep fighting over this? it’s just a football game, it’s not like it’s hurting anyone.

  


.It’s hurting my brain, that’s what.

  


.wow didnt know you had one of those

  


. …

  


.Ha.

  


.see? nine likes my sense of humour

  


.Betrayed by my own sibling. I can’t believe this.

  


Hey guys, everything’s set up. 

  


.already?

  


.that was fast

  


You could say we’ve done this before.

  


.I guess you could say that.

  


So Nine, you ready?  


.  
Yeah. I think I am.

  


Great! Don’t worry about anything, by the way, me and Cleo know what we’re doing.

  


.you sure about that lol

  


.Shut up.

  


Yes, I can promise you that we do.

  


.Okay.

  


.we’ll talk to you later, nine!

  


.dont do anything stupid

  


.That’s your job, isn’t it?

  


.yep

  


* * *

  


Okay, so all that’s gonna happen is that you’re going to fall asleep for a bit, and during that time we can get the data transfer all sorted out.  
By the way, this is Cleo.

  


Hi! 

  


.Oh- Hello!

  


I’m assuming everything’s been explained to you already, so you just say when you’re ready.

  


.I mean- There’s no point in waiting, right? We can just get this over and done with now?

  


Sure!

  


Here goes nothing.

  
-> DOWNLOADING DATA  
  
-> 9% COMPLETED  
  
-> 27% COMPLETED  
  
-> 45% COMPLETED  
  
-> 63% COMPLETED  
  
-> 81% COMPLETED  
  
-> 100% OF DATA HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY DOWNLOADED  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 3rd, 17776  
  


.so how’s the 500 game going?

  


.yknow i havent really checked  
should we go see if theyre gonna fire anything soon

  


.I had a look earlier, they’re going to fire in a few minutes.

  


.oh shit  
cmon we gotta see this

  


.give me a second, i’m trying to find it.  
it’s the denali one, right?

  


.That’s the one.

  


.okay, hold on.

  


* * *

  


Nine? Are you okay?

  


Shit, did we do something wrong?

  


No, they should be fine. There were no issues with the data transfer.. I think it’s just an issue with their vision-

  


Which means?

  


They can’t see much colour. If I’m right, it’s all going to be greyscale for them.

  


But we can fix that.  
Is there anything else?

  


There’s also something wrong with their battery- 

  


Well, shit.

  


Don’t worry about it. It’s an easy fix. Probably for the best, anyway. I don’t think they were able to see colour originally, so this could be a good thing to help them get used to everything easier.  
  
As for the power issue, we can fix that along with the vision thing later. Just make sure they don’t waste too much power.

  


Can do.

  


* * *

  


Hey, are you guys still here?

  


.yeah  
we’re here

  


Did something happen?  
You all look like shit.

  


.no  
its fine nothing happened

  


… Okay…

  


.is nine there?

  


.Nine?

  


Yeah, Nine’s here.  
There’s just a small issue with their vision and their battery that we have to fix, but they’re fine.

  


.welcome to the club.

  


.Can we see them?

  


Yep!  
(Nine, over here-)

  


.(Oh.)  
  
.Hello?

  


.eyyyy its the spacebucket

  


.Nine! Are you okay?

  


.you can see, right?

  


.I’m okay. I can see.

  


.where’s cleo?

  


Doing work. I’m on break right now, but you gotta remember that we still have jobs.  
It’s a good thing that they decided to give everyone the option to work from home all those years ago. Makes things a whole lot easier sometimes.

  


.I can see why. 

  


.lol imagine having a job  
cant relate

  


You shut up.  
Anyway, Nine, don’t go wasting too much power. You’ll need to recharge sooner than everyone else, remember?

  


.I know.

  


Good. 

  


.so uh  
what do we do now

  


.I’m not sure.  
Nine, you got any suggestions?

  


.Uh. Maybe we could see what Nancy’s doing?

  


.i think that’d be a good idea.

  


.I agree.

  


Well then, I’ll leave you all to do that then. Let me know if you need anything, okay?

  


.ok

  


.Okay.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 4th, 17776  
  


.aaand thats how i got my twitter account banned

  


.Correction: That was how you got your 78th Twitter account banned.

  


.i thought it was your 33rd one?

  


.nope  
youre both wrong  
it was my 109th

  


.Are you even supposed to have that many accounts-?  
.  
  
.Shit.

  


.what

  


.Nine?

  


.I’m getting kind of tired.

  


.Oh. You probably need to recharge.

  


.i’ll go and get alexis.

  


.yea you should 

  


* * *

  


Nine? Are you okay?

  


.I’m okay. Just tired.

  


.They just need to recharge, right?

  


Yeah. But me and Cleo planned on fixing up their vision a bit so they could actually see colours, along with repairing whatever issue it is that’s causing their battery to drain so quickly.

  


. … So it’ll take longer?

  


Mhm.  
But they’ll be fine, I can tell you that.

  


.Okay.

  


Nine, are you able to walk?

  


. … yes.

  


Yeahhhh, okay. Ten, can you help them out? It’s not that far of a walk, but I don’t want them falling over like you did.

  


.I didn’t fall over!  
Just… nevermind all that.  
Come on, Nine. Let’s go.

  


.I’m gonna wake up, right?

  


.Yep.

  


.Promise?

  


.I promise.

  


.wait  
before you go

  


.?

  


.uh  
listen nine  
when you woke up for the first time  
10 and the rest of us shouldve told you in that first message it wouldve taken a while for us to respond  
and uh  
  
.we’re really sorry bout that

  


.There’s no excuse for not telling you.  
I should’ve told you when we had the chance.  
I’m sorry, Nine.

  


.um.  
yeah.  
i’m not sure what else to say that the others haven’t already said-  
i’m sorry as well.

  


.It’s okay. I forgive you.  
Thank you for not giving up on me.  
I love you guys.

  


.I love you too.

  


.agreed.

  


.love y’all too

  


We should go, before you pass out.

  


.That’s a good idea.  
I’ll talk to you all later, right?

  


.yea  
we’ll still be here  
always have been

  


.we’re not going anywhere.

  


.Ever.

  


Neither am I or Cleo. We’re all going to be here when you wake up.

  


.How long will it take?

  


I’m not sure. The upgrade to your battery could take a while.

  


.its not like its take another 15000 years so i think we’re good

  


.And even if it did, we would still wait for you to wake up again.

  


.we’re good at being patient.  
well. most of us are.

  


.is that aimed at me

  


.perhaps.

  


.Thank you.

  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 5th, 17776  
  
FROM: REID, MIA  
TO: HALEY, ALEXIS  
IMPORTANT  
  
Hey Alexis,  
So.  
Earlier this week we got a ping on one of our systems, informing us that one of the Pioneers is online again. We know it’s not Ten.  
...You said you were trying to find Pioneer 9. Was that it? Was that you? Did you find it?  
Everyone’s asking if it was you who woke it up. How did you do it? What happened?  
  
Please respond ASAP.  
  
-Mia  
  
  
FROM: FLINT, CALLIE  
TO: HALEY, ALEXIS  
WHAT???  
  
Alexis? What the hell did you do?  
Everyone’s saying you woke up Pioneer 9, but there’s no way you could’ve actually done that, right? They’re gone, aren’t they?  
We lost contact all those years ago…  
  
Please reply when you can, I need to know what happened.  
  
\- Callie  
  
  
FROM: MITCHELL, SEAN  
TO: HALEY, ALEXIS  
(NO TOPIC)  
  
Alexis,  
As you may have heard already, we are aware that Pioneer 9 is awake. We talked about this, if you’re going to wake up another NASA spacecraft, alert us as soon as you get a response!  
  
\- Sean  
  


* * *

  
-> ARCHIVE LOG: July 6th, 17776  
  


.hey hubble guess what

  


.hm?

  


.i have an idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so so so sorry this took forever to write  
> school happened and I lost motivation for a bit bc of burnout but I'm BACK  
> writing this fic was a lot of fun :D
> 
> but fr,, thank you all so much for the kind comments and leaving kudos and all that,, for my first time writing on here that really does mean a lot!!
> 
> again, there are plans for a sequel fic to this, but I'm unsure when ill be able to start writing that ,, ill most likely post more short one chapter things in the meantime if I get the motivation to write lol
> 
> as always be sure to follow me on my [tumblr](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/) for more about this au!   
> and for those who were wondering- yes the probes do have android designs that I've drawn, you can find those [here](https://snowthedemonfox.tumblr.com/post/634537087344001024)
> 
> another thing is that a few people in the 17776 discord have asked me to create a playlist with every song that these chapters (and the fic itself) are named after, so uhhhh i did! you can find that [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbyvr5Y4_5qdWJ3a_ouw6SQ2eqBcGbz72)
> 
> note that the songs don't always line up with the chapters, I usually just chose the names cause I was listening to that song while I was writing
> 
> but yeah!! tysm for taking the time to read this, it means a lot to me <3


End file.
